Method and system for providing domain-specific incremental search results with a customer self-service system for a financial management system

Abstract

Disclosed methods and systems provide domain-specific incremental search results for search query terms with a customer self-service system for a financial management system, according to one embodiment. Incremental search results are search results that are generated for search query terms, as a user enters the search query terms as part of a search query to a customer self-service system, according to one embodiment. The customer self-service system receives search query terms (e.g., a partial search query) in a search text box, searches customer self-service system content for content that is relevant to the search query terms, and provides incremental search results in a results text box (e.g., drop down menu) that is proximate to (e.g., below) the search text box, according to one embodiment.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method comprising:
 providing, with one or more computing systems, a customer self-service system associated with a financial management system; 
 storing, with the customer self-service system, customer self-service system content data representing customer self-service system content, in memory allocated for use by the customer self-service system; 
 maintaining transaction data representing financial transactions of users of the financial management system; 
 providing search algorithm data representing a search algorithm configured to identify portions of the customer self-service system content and portions of the transaction data associated with search query terms data representing one or more search query terms received in a search text box for the customer self-service system; 
 providing search text box data representing the search text box, to enable receipt of the one or more search query terms; 
 receiving one or more of the search query terms in the search text box as a portion of one of a number of potential search queries that are formulated with the one or more search query terms; 
 applying, as each individual search query term is being entered into the search text box, search query data representing the one or more of the search query terms to the search algorithm to generate incremental search results data representing a plurality of incremental search results, wherein the plurality of incremental search results includes at least part of the self-service system content and at least part of the transaction data that are responsive to the one or more of the search query terms, the search query terms being further applied to a predictive model which predicts one or more potential search queries that are based on one or more of the search query terms, the one or more potential search queries being provided to the user through an updated user experience display responsive to additional potential search queries being predicted; 
 repeatedly personalizing user experience display data with updated and incremental search results data, as search query terms are being entered into the search text box, to display the plurality of incremental search results in a results text box that is positioned adjacent to the search text box in a user experience display represented by the user experience display data, wherein financial management system content appears to be rendered beneath the results text box in the user experience display; and 
 transmitting the user experience display data to a user computing system, the user experience display data representing the user experience display. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the financial management system is a personal financial management system, a business financial management system, or a combination of both the personal financial management system and the business financial management system. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the customer self-service system is part of the financial management system. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user computing system is a mobile computing device and repeatedly updating user experience display data with the incremental search results data facilitates searching the transaction data and the customer self-service system content from the mobile computing device. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining one or more potential search queries formable from one or more of the search query terms; and 
 generating at least part of the incremental search results data based on the one or more potential search queries. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 applying at least part of the transaction data and one or more of the search query terms to a predictive model to determine one or more potential search queries based on one or more of the search query terms; and 
 generating at least part of the incremental search results data based on the one or more potential search queries. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a selection of one of the plurality of incremental search results; and 
 updating the user experience display data with additional customer self-service system content outside of the search text box in the user experience display. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the results text box is positioned adjacent and below the search text box on user experience display. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the search algorithm generates the incremental search results data at least partially based on topics of one or more of the search query terms. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 acquiring user profile data representing navigation history of the user in the financial management system; and 
 applying the user profile data and one or more of the search query terms to a predictive model to identify one or more potential search queries. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the search algorithm includes a predictive model. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the predictive model is trained using a training operation selected from a group of predictive model training operations, consisting of:
 regression; 
 logistic regression; 
 decision trees; 
 artificial neural networks; 
 support vector machines; 
 linear regression; 
 nearest neighbor methods; 
 distance based methods; 
 naive Bayes; 
 linear discriminant analysis; and 
 k-nearest neighbor algorithm. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the customer self-service system content is selected from a group of customer self-service system content, consisting of:
 crowd-sourced customer support content; 
 service provider content; 
 definitions content, wherein the definitions content includes definitions of tax-specific terms; 
 suggested potential search queries; and 
 user tax data for the user. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the transaction data represents one or more transactions selected from a group of financial management system transactions, consisting of:
 recording income from continuing operations; 
 monitoring accounts receivable; 
 calculating depreciation; 
 calculating amortization; 
 recording taxes paid; 
 estimating taxes due; 
 accessing assets values; 
 determining debts owed; 
 generating financial reports; 
 creating invoices; 
 creating receipts; 
 recording invoices or receipts; 
 managing payroll; 
 tracking inventory; 
 synchronizing a financial management system account with one or more financial institutions; and 
 maintaining records of deductible expenses. 
 
     
     
       15. A financial management system having a customer self-service system that provides incremental search results for search query terms, comprising:
 a user experience display that receives transaction data from users of a financial management system, wherein the user experience display provides the transaction data to the users of the financial management system; 
 a transaction data store that stores transaction data, for the financial management system, in memory allocated for use by the financial management system; 
 a customer self-service system content store that stores customer self-service system content data, representing customer self-service system content, in memory that is allocated for use by a customer self-service system that provides customer self-service searches for the financial management system; 
 a search text box configured to receive search query term data representing search query terms from the users, wherein the search query terms constitute at least part of at least one potential search query, wherein the search text box is positioned within the user experience display and proximate to financial management system content provided to the users, the financial management system content being represented by financial management system content; 
 a result texts box that displays incremental search content data representing incremental search content that the customer self-service system provides in response to the at least one potential search query wherein the results text box is a visually proximate to the search text box in the user experience display; and 
 a customer self-service system engine configured to apply, as each individual search query term is being entered into the search text box, the search query term data to a search algorithm to generate the incremental search content data, in response to receipt of the search query term data, the incremental search content data including at least part of the transaction data representing one or more transactions for the user in the financial management system and including at least part of the customer self-service system content data representing at least some of the customer self-service system content, the search query terms being further applied by the customer self-service system engine to a predictive model which predicts one or more potential search queries that are based on one or more of the search query terms, the one or more potential search queries being provided to the user through an updated user experience display responsive to additional potential search queries being predicted, 
 wherein the incremental search content includes one or more transactions for the user in the financial management system and at least some of the customer self-service system content, wherein the incremental search content is displayed in real-time to facilitate viewing of the incremental search content by the user as the user enters the each of the one or more search query terms into the search text box, wherein the results text box is overlaid on other at least part of the financial management system content in the user experience display. 
 
     
     
       16. The financial management system of  claim 15 , wherein the results text box is adjacent to and proximate to the search text box. 
     
     
       17. The financial management system of  claim 15 , wherein the transaction data represents one or more transactions selected from a group of financial management system transactions, consisting of:
 recording income from continuing operations; 
 monitoring Accounts Receivable; 
 calculating depreciation; 
 calculating amortization; 
 recording taxes paid; 
 estimating taxes due; 
 accessing assets values; 
 determining debts owed; 
 generating financial reports; 
 creating invoices; 
 creating receipts; 
 recording invoices or receipts; 
 managing payroll; 
 tracking inventory; 
 synchronizing a financial management system account with one or more financial institutions; and 
 maintaining records of deductible expenses. 
 
     
     
       18. The financial management system of  claim 15 , wherein the customer self-service system engine acquires user profile data representing navigation history of a user in the financial management system,
 wherein the customer self-service system engine applies the user profile data and one or more of the search query terms to a predictive model to identify a plurality of potential search queries. 
 
     
     
       19. The financial management system of  claim 15 , wherein the search algorithm generates the incremental search content data at least partially based on topics of the one or more search query terms and at least partially based on topics of the customer self-service system content. 
     
     
       20. The financial management system of  claim 15 , wherein the customer self-service system content is selected from a group of customer self-service system content, consisting of:
 crowd-sourced customer support content; 
 service provider content; 
 definitions content, wherein the definitions content includes definitions of tax-specific terms; 
 suggested potential search queries; and 
 user tax data for the user. 
 
     
     
       21. A system comprising:
 one or more processors; and 
 memory having instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a process for providing domain-specific incremental search results for search query terms with a customer self-service system for a financial management system, the process comprising:
 providing a customer self-service system associated with a financial management system; 
 storing, with the customer self-service system, customer self-service system content data representing customer self-service system content, in memory allocated for use by the customer self-service system; 
 maintaining transaction data representing financial transactions of users of the financial management system; 
 providing search algorithm data representing a search algorithm configured to identify portions of the customer self-service system content and portions of the transaction data associated with search query terms data representing one or more search query terms received in a search text box for the customer self-service system; 
 providing search text box data representing the search text box, to enable receipt of the one or more search query terms; 
 receiving one or more of the search query terms in the search text box as a portion of one of a number of potential search queries formulated with the one or more search query terms; 
 applying, as each individual search query term is being entered into the search text box, search query data representing the one or more of the search query terms to the search algorithm to generate incremental search results data representing a plurality of incremental search results, wherein the plurality of incremental search results includes at least part of the self-service system content and at least part of the transaction data responsive to the one or more of the search query terms, the search query terms being further applied to a predictive model which predicts one or more potential search queries that are based on one or more of the search query terms, the one or more potential search queries being provided to the user through an updated user experience display responsive to additional potential search queries being predicted; 
 repeatedly personalizing user experience display data with the incremental search results data, as search query terms are being entered into the search text box, to display the plurality of incremental search results in a results text box positioned adjacent to the search text box in a user experience display represented by the user experience display data, enabling viewing of the plurality of the incremental search results by the user concurrently with the user entering one or more of the search query terms into the search text box, wherein financial management system content appears to be rendered beneath the results text box in the user experience display; and 
 transmitting the user experience display data to a user computing system, the user experience display data representing the user experience display. 
 
 
     
     
       22. The system of  claim 21 , wherein the financial management system is a personal financial management system, a business financial management system, or a combination of both the personal financial management system and the business financial management system. 
     
     
       23. The system of  claim 21 , wherein the customer self-service system is part of the financial management system. 
     
     
       24. The system of  claim 21 , wherein the user computing system is a mobile computing device and repeatedly updating user experience display data with the incremental search results data facilitates searching the transaction data and the customer self-service system content from the mobile computing device. 
     
     
       25. The system of  claim 21 , wherein the process further comprises:
 determining one or more potential search queries formable from one or more of the search query terms; and 
 generating at least part of the incremental search results data based on the one or more potential search queries. 
 
     
     
       26. The system of  claim 21 , wherein the results text box is positioned adjacent and below the search text box on user experience display. 
     
     
       27. The system of  claim 21 , wherein the process further comprises:
 acquiring user profile data representing navigation history of the user in the financial management system; and 
 applying the user profile data and one or more of the search query terms to a predictive model to identify one or more potential search queries. 
 
     
     
       28. The system of  claim 21 , wherein the customer self-service system content is selected from a group of customer self-service system content, consisting of:
 crowd-sourced customer support content; 
 service provider content; 
 definitions content, wherein the definitions content includes definitions of tax-specific terms; 
 suggested potential search queries; and 
 user tax data for the user. 
 
     
     
       29. The system of  claim 21 , wherein the transaction data represents one or more transactions selected from a group of financial management system transactions, consisting of:
 recording income from continuing operations; 
 monitoring accounts receivable; 
 calculating depreciation; 
 calculating amortization; 
 recording taxes paid; 
 estimating taxes due; 
 accessing assets values; 
 determining debts owed; 
 generating financial reports; 
 creating invoices; 
 creating receipts; 
 recording invoices or receipts; 
 managing payroll; 
 tracking inventory; 
 synchronizing a financial management system account with one or more financial institutions; and 
 maintaining records of deductible expenses.